1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color conversion apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a color conversion apparatus and method for converting an inputted standard color signal so that a color gamut of the inputted standard color signal can match a color gamut of a multi-primary display (MPD) reproducing the standard color signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, color-reproducing devices such as monitors, scanners, printers, and so on, use different color spaces or color models depending on where and what they are used for. For example, the CMY color space is used for color image printing devices, the RGB color space is used for color CRT monitors or computer graphic devices, and the HIS color space is used for devices dealing with hue, saturation, and intensity separately. Further, the CIE color space is often used to define so-called device-independent colors precisely reproducible in any device, for which there are color spaces of CIE-XYZ, CIE L*a*b, CIE L*u*V, and so on.
In addition to such different color spaces, color-reproducing devices can have a different color gamut. A color space indicates a color-defining method, that is, a method showing relationships among a certain color and the other colors, whereas the color gamut indicates a color reproduction range. Accordingly, if an inputted color signal has a different color gamut from a color gamut of a device reproducing the inputted color signal, it is necessary to properly convert the inputted color signal to match each other's color gamuts for better color reproduction.
In the meantime, such color-reproducing devices generally use the three primary colors, but, recently, there has been an attempt to extend a color gamut by using four or more primary colors. Typically, the MPD has emerged as a result of the attempt. The MPD is a display system which reproduces a wider color gamut by using four or more primary colors in order to extend a color gamut larger than the existing three-channel display system using the three primary colors.
FIG. 1 is a view for explaining the color gamut of such an MPD. In FIG. 1, the region marked with reference number 1 indicates a color gamut that one can perceive, the region marked with reference number 2 indicates the color gamut of the MPD, and the region marked with reference number 3 indicates the color gamut of a display system using the existing three primary colors.
As shown in FIG. 1, it can be seen that the color gamut of the MPD is extended compared to that of the conventional display system. Accordingly, the color gamut of the conventional system using the standard color signal does not match the color gamut of the MPD, and thus all the color gamut the MPD can reproduce can not be used if the standard color signal is reproduced on the MPD without conversion. Thus, in order to use the wider color gamut of the MPD, there needs to be a color conversion apparatus and method for converting an inputted standard color signal to match the color gamut of an inputted standard color signal with that of the MPD.